Personalized preloading of digital content

ABSTRACT

Techniques are described regarding providing consumers with devices on which digital content appropriate for those consumers has been loaded, such as digital media player devices or other consumer devices that are able to play or otherwise present digital media loaded on those devices. In some situations, when a consumer orders such a digital media player or other consumer device from a merchant (or other distributor of the device), the merchant preloads a copy of the device with digital media content before delivering that device to the consumer or other specified recipient, such as digital media items that are automatically selected in a personalized manner for the recipient to whom the device will be sent. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional U.S. PatentApplication No. 60/658,937, filed Mar. 4, 2005 and entitled“Personalized Preloading Of Digital Content,” which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates generally to loading of digital mediacontent on devices that play or otherwise present such digital media,such as to preload such devices with content specific to recipientsbefore providing the devices to those recipients.

BACKGROUND

The Internet comprises a vast number of computers and computer networksthat are interconnected through communication links, with informationbeing exchanged using various services such as electronic mail, FTP,Gopher, and the World Wide Web (also referred to as the “Web”). Inaddition to merely providing access to information, the Web hasincreasingly become a medium that is used to search for, shop for andorder items (such as products, services and/or information) that are forpurchase, rent, lease, license, trade, evaluation, sampling,subscription to, etc. In many circumstances, a user can visit the Website of a Web merchant (or a “Web store”) or otherwise interact with anonline retailer or electronic marketplace that provides one or moreitems, such as to view information about the items, give an instructionto place an order for one or more items, and provide information neededto complete the purchase (e.g., payment and shipping information).

After receiving an order for one or more items, a Web merchant thenfulfills the order by providing the ordered items to the indicatedrecipient. Some product items may be available to be deliveredelectronically to a recipient (e.g., music downloaded over theInternet), while other product items (e.g., paperback books) may insteadbe delivered through physical distribution channels (e.g., shipment viaa governmental postal service or private common carrier). Similarly,some service items may be provided electronically (e.g., providing emailservice), while others may be provided physically (e.g., performingcleaning services at the purchaser's house). The order fulfillmentprocess typically used by Web merchants for product items that are to bephysically provided shares similarities with other item orderingservices that ship ordered items (e.g., catalog-based shopping, such asfrom mail-order companies), such as to deliver ordered items from one ormore physical distribution or fulfillment centers operated by or onbehalf of the Web merchant.

One area of commerce of increasing popularity involves providing varioustypes of content to consumers in digital form, with the digital contentthen able to be used by the consumers on consumer devices that providecorresponding capabilities. For example, consumers are increasinglypurchasing portable digital music player devices on which the consumerscan store digital music (e.g., MP3 song files) and then later play itback—such player devices may store the digital music in flash memoryand/or on a local hard disk, with some such player devices able to storethousands of music files. Digital music files are typically loaded ontosuch digital music player devices by consumers using a companionpersonal computer (e.g., via a physical cable between the player deviceand the personal computer) that has access to such files, such as bycopying the music from a music CD loaded in an appropriate drive of thecomputer and/or by having downloaded the music files from one or moreonline music services (e.g., Napster.com, Apple Computer's iTunes,RealNetworks' RealPlayer Music Store, etc.). For some fee-based onlinemusic services, each music file may be individually purchased for aspecified fee and then played by the consumer as desired (e.g., on thecomputer to which the file was downloaded or on other portable playerdevices, and without restrictions on the number of times or the amountof time for which the music file may be accessed). For other fee-basedonline music services, a consumer may access music files using asubscription to the music service that allows the consumer to downloadand use an unlimited number of music files, but with the music filesusable only under specified conditions, such as only while thesubscription continues to be valid, and in some situations only onspecified types of devices that allow the continued subscriptionvalidity to be verified (e.g., devices using Microsoft Corporation'sJanus Windows Media DRM (“Digital Rights Management”) 10 technology). Ina similar manner, consumers may load and use various other types ofnon-executable digital media (e.g., videos, photos and other images,e-books and other textual information, etc.) on corresponding digitalmedia player devices (e.g., digital photo display devices, digital videoplayer devices, e-book reader devices, etc.).

Although consumers' ability to load and use various types of digitalmedia on various types of consumer devices provides a variety ofbenefits, various problems exist. One such problem results from thedifficulties faced by consumers in loading appropriate content on theirdigital media player devices, such as due to the content loading processbeing extremely time-consuming. For example, when downloading contentfrom an online service to be loaded onto a consumer device, the consumertypically must first manually identify digital media items of interest,wait for the digital media items to be downloaded to a networkedcomputer, and then wait while the digital media items are transferred toa player device. For digital music, for example, this downloadingprocess can take many hours when downloading thousands of music files,even with a high-speed broadband network connection and high-speedconnection between the computer and player device, and downloading avideo file is typically even more time-consuming than downloading amusic or other audio file. Moreover, the process of manually loadinghundreds of CDs into one or more computer drives and then copying musicfiles from the CDs will typically take even longer than downloading themusic, and manually copying video files from DVDs would similarly be alabor-intensive and time-consuming process. Accordingly, it would bebeneficial to provide capabilities to assist consumers in more easilyobtaining appropriate digital media that is loaded on their consumerdevices, as well as other described capabilities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a system forfacilitating the preloading of consumer devices with personalizeddigital media specific to recipients before providing the devices tothose recipients.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a PersonalizedDigital Media Preload routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques are described related to providing consumers with devices onwhich digital content appropriate for those consumers has been loaded,such as digital media player devices or other consumer devices that areable to play or otherwise present digital media loaded on those devices.In some embodiments, when a consumer orders such a digital media playeror other consumer device from a merchant (or other distributor of thedevice), the merchant preloads a copy of the device with digital mediacontent before delivering that device to the consumer or other specifiedrecipient. Moreover, in some embodiments the digital media items to bepreloaded on the device are automatically selected in a personalizedmanner for the recipient to whom the device will be sent, such as basedon information available to the merchant regarding the recipient.

The automatic selection of digital media items that are appropriate fora user may be performed in various ways in various embodiments. Asdiscussed in greater detail below, in some embodiments a merchant mayhave various information about digital media items that have previouslybeen indicated to be of interest to a user, and if so may automaticallyidentify those items and/or may automatically determine other relateditems in various ways. By automatically identifying such items ofinterest for a specified user and/or related items to such items, apersonalized set of digital media items may be automatically selectedfor each user. Moreover, when a consumer device is automaticallypreloaded with such a personalized set of digital media items for a userbefore being provided to the user, it enables immediate use of theconsumer device by the user when it is received, as well as minimizingor eliminating the need of the user to engage in the lengthy process ofidentifying and loading appropriate content on the device.

Information about digital media items of interest to a specified targetuser may be obtained by a merchant or other entity in various ways, suchas based on prior shopping-related activities with the merchant (e.g.,based on the user having previously purchased or otherwise selectedthose items of interest for himself/herself and/or for others, such asby having an existing subscription to those items; based on othershaving purchased or otherwise selected those items for the user; etc.)and/or based on the user having otherwise indicated interest in thoseitems. Such other indications of interest by a user in one or more itemsmay take various forms in various embodiments, such as by the userhaving explicitly specified to the merchant that those items are ofinterest (e.g., by interactively designating them and/or by uploading afile that contains a list of them); by the user having searched forand/or browsed those items; by the user having reviewed detailedinformation about those items; by the user having requested additionalinformation regarding those items; by the user having placed those itemson a list indicating an interest in or desire for those items, such ason a wish list or gift registry; by the user having those items as partof a collection stored in a digital locker or other storage mechanism;by the user having placed those items in a virtual shopping cart; by theuser having provided a rating for those items, a review of those items,or otherwise provided feedback or information related to those items; bythe user having played or otherwise used those items, such as recentlyor at any time; by the user having discussed those items in a blog orincluded those items in a user-created list; by relationships of thoseitems to other information specified by the user, such as by those itemsbeing alternative versions of items indicated by the user (e.g., a liveversion of a studio-recorded song or album, a director's cut version ofa previously released movie, etc.) and/or such as those items havingbeen specified by or otherwise associated with another user or a groupin whom the user has specified an interest (e.g., some or all itemsspecified by another user who reviews items or otherwise selects itemsof interest, such as for a job of that other user; some or all itemsselected by one or more peer users, such as to duplicate a playlist ordigital library made by peer users who are on a buddy or friends list ofthe user; some or all items endorsed by an organization or communitygroup to which the user belongs or by a trusted ratings group; etc.);etc.

In addition, in some embodiments digital media items of likely interestto a target user may be automatically identified in other manners, suchas based on information related to the user that is obtained fromexternal sources (e.g., information about interactions by the user withother merchants or other entities, such as affiliated entities), or suchas based on demographic and/or geographic information about the userand/or on preferences previously specified by the user. Moreover, insome embodiments other digital media items may additionally beautomatically identified for a target user in other ways, such as itemsdesignated by others (e.g., items being specially promoted by themerchant, or items whose inclusion on the consumer device has beenpurchased by a party associated with the item, such as a provider ordistributor of the item), whether designated for all users or for agroup of one or more users that includes the target user (e.g., based ondemographic information for the target user).

After items that are of interest to a target user are identified, otheritems that are related to those items of interest may be automaticallydetermined in various ways, such as to identify items that are similarto those items of interest (e.g., for digital songs of interest, similaritems may include other digital songs from the same album, by the sameartist, from the same label, in the same genre, from the same timeperiod, having the same quality rating, etc.), to identify items thatare different representations of those items of interest (e.g., for asong of interest, a mobile phone ringtone of that song and/or or a musicvideo of that song), and/or to identify items that are otherwiseassociated with those items of interest, such as based on other users(e.g., items of interest to other users who are similar to or otherwiseassociated with the target user, or other items that have been selectedby other users who have also selected those items of interest, whetherfor any such other users or for other users that have been selected,such as based on similarities to the target user). More generally, avariety of techniques are available to generate item recommendations fora user based on a set of items of interest and optionally various otherinformation about the user and/or other users, and in some embodimentsany such recommendation techniques may be used as part of automaticallydetermining other related items. Techniques for generating itemrecommendations are also discussed generally in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/528,087, filed Mar. 17, 2000, which is herebyincorporated by reference.

After a personalized set of digital media items has been automaticallyselected for a target user, those digital media items may in someembodiments be automatically preloaded on a consumer device for the userwithout approval by the user of those items. Alternatively, in someembodiments in which a consumer has ordered a consumer device for aspecified recipient (whether the consumer himself/herself or for anotheruser), such automatically selected digital media items for the specifiedrecipient may be presented or otherwise provided for human approvalbefore being preloaded on the consumer device, such as to the consumerand/or to the specified recipient. In some such embodiments, thehuman(s) may merely choose to accept or refuse the preloading of thoseselected digital media items (whether with or without being notified ofsome or all of the specific items), while in other such embodiments thehuman(s) may instead be allowed to view and modify the personalized setof digital media items, such as to add and/or remove digital media items(or categories or groups of items). Moreover, in some embodiments anyadditional information specified by the human(s) may be further used torefine the personalized set of digital media items in an automatedmanner, such as to determine new related items and/or recommendationsbased on any modifications initiated by the human(s). After any suchhuman-initiated modifications and any resulting changes have been made,the resulting personalized set of digital media items is then preloadedto the device.

The digital media items or other digital content items to be loaded oncorresponding devices may take a variety of forms in variousembodiments, including digital music, digital audio books, and otheraudio in various formats (e.g., MP3 files, WMA (or “Windows MediaAudio”) files, RealAudio files, AAC (or “Advanced Audio Coding”) files,FLAC (or “Free Lossless Audio Codec”) files, Ogg Vorbis files, etc.);digital photos and other images in various formats; digital video invarious formats (e.g., MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV (or “Windows MediaVideo”), RealVideo, H.263, H.264, H.26L, etc.); e-books and othertextual information in various formats; etc. Moreover, in someembodiments various DRM formats and technology may be used inconjunction with the digital content, such as Microsoft Corporation'sJanus Windows Media DRM 10 technology, Apple Computer's FairPlay DRM,RealNetworks' Helix DRM and Harmony technology, etc.

Similarly, the consumer devices on which the digital media or otherdigital content may be loaded may take a variety of forms in variousembodiments, including portable and stationary digital music playerdevices (e.g., Apple Computer's iPod, Rio MP3 players, Neuros MP3digital audio recorders, etc.), digital photo display and/or videoplayer devices (e.g., Apple Computer's iPod photo device, portable mediacenter devices from Archos and Samsung, etc.), e-book reader devices,personal computers (e.g., desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, home mediacenter PCs, etc.), various other types of devices having capabilities toplay or otherwise present the digital content (e.g., portable and othervideo game devices, such as Sony's PlayStation and portable PSP devices,Nintendo's GameCube and portable DS and Game Boy Advance devices, andMicrosoft's Xbox device; PDAs and other handheld devices; cell phones;smart phones; VOIP phones; digital cameras and camcorders; etc.),television set-top boxes, personal/digital video recorders (e.g., TiVodevices), etc. More generally, any device for use by an individual,group, organization or other entity that has storage for digitalcontent, with the stored digital content able to be played or otherwiseused on the device or another connected device, may in some embodimentsbe preloaded with appropriate digital content for the individual, group,organization or other entity. In addition, in some embodiments thedevices on which the digital content is loaded are devices that aredesigned and/or configured to support appropriate DRM or other accesscontrols related to the media, such as DRM or access controls thatsupport subscription-based usage restrictions for the digital content(e.g., Microsoft Corporation's Janus Windows Media DRM 10 technology).Moreover, in some embodiments the digital content may instead be loadedon digital content transport articles to be read and used by appropriatedevices (e.g., when a customer purchases or otherwise selects such anarticle), such as flash memory media (e.g., USB-based memory keys,memory sticks, and digital memory cards), portable hard disk-basedmedia, PCMCIA cards, DAT, CDs, DVDs, etc, and then sent to the specifiedrecipient for use with an appropriate device.

For illustrative purposes, some embodiments are described below in whichthe disclosed techniques are used to preload digital music content ondigital music player devices, and in which appropriate music is selectedfor a target recipient of a device in various specified ways. However,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the techniques of theinvention can be used in a wide variety of other situations, includingwith other types of non-executable digital media, with various types ofexecutable digital content, and with various other types of digitaldevices, as well as with other techniques for selecting and loadingdigital content, and that the invention is thus not limited to thespecific illustrative details that are discussed.

In some embodiments, the described techniques for preloading digitalmusic content on digital music player devices in a manner personalizedto the device recipients are utilized by a merchant or other distributorof digital media player devices that also provides digital music toconsumers, such as part of an online music download service hosted bythe merchant or by another entity affiliated with the merchant. FIG. 1illustrates an example embodiment of one or more computing systems usedby such a merchant to provide at least some of the described techniques,as discussed in greater detail below.

In addition, in some embodiments the described techniques for preloadingdigital music content on digital music player devices in a mannerpersonalized to the device recipients are provided in conjunction withan online music service that provides subscription-based access to musicsuch that a subscriber can use a large or unlimited number of musicfiles while the subscription is valid. For example, in some embodimentsthe described preloading of digital music files may be performed forcustomers (or other specified recipients of a digital music playerdevice) who already have a subscription to an online music serviceaccessible by the merchant (e.g., a music service provided by themerchant), and/or for customers who are currently purchasing a packageor other combination of items that includes a digital music playerdevice and such a subscription.

In other embodiments, the described techniques for preloading digitalmusic content on digital music player devices in a manner personalizedto the device recipients may be provided in situations in which arecipient of a digital music player device does not have a subscriptionto a music service, such as when the digital music files and/or digitalmusic player device support DRM or other access controls that allowaccess to the preloaded digital music content only under specifiedconditions. For example, a digital music player device could beautomatically preloaded with personalized digital music for a targetrecipient, and the recipient could then be prompted or queried whenusing the device to purchase access to the preloaded content (e.g., viaa multi-item subscription and/or per-item use licenses) and/or tosatisfy any other specified access conditions. Alternatively, therecipient could be allowed limited access to preloaded digital musicitems for free (e.g., to listen to a digital music item only a specifiednumber of times, or to listen to only a specified number of digitalmusic items), with additional access requiring a subscription or otherpayment. In addition, regardless of whether a digital media playerdevice supports DRM or other access controls, digital media items may bepreloaded on the device in other circumstances, such as when some or allof the items are available for free (thus allowing access to such itemswithout restrictions) and/or when a user has previously purchased accessto those items (e.g., has purchased individual licenses for each item,such as to allow unlimited use and/or use under specified conditions) orconcurrently purchases such item access at the time of deviceacquisition.

In some embodiments, at least some of the preloaded digital music itemsmay further be modified versions of available digital music items, suchas to provide partial samples or other excerpts of some digital musicitems and/or to provide other types of promotional material related todigital music items. In such embodiments, the user may be allowed toaccess such modified versions under specified conditions (e.g., for amaximum number of times, or in an unrestricted manner), but may need toacquire a subscription or make other payment in order to obtain fullaccess to the digital music items. Alternatively, even in situations inwhich the user has a subscription, such modified items may be providedfor other reasons (e.g., to save space on the digital music playerdevice, or to provide digital music items that were not automaticallyselected as being appropriate for the user, such as to expose the userto additional types of music and/or to include items being promoted). Inat least some such embodiments, capabilities may be provided to allow auser to indicate that a full version of such a modified item is ofinterest (e.g., while the user is listening to the modified item, suchas by selecting an appropriate control on the digital music playerdevice), and if so the indicated full version item of interest may beautomatically downloaded to the digital music player device whenpossible (e.g., when the digital music player device is next docked orotherwise in communication with a networked computer or other devicethat has access to the indicated full version item). In otherembodiments, the preloaded digital music items may instead not bemodified, but DRM controls or other access controls may provide similarfunctionality by limiting access to only portions of the digital musicitems.

In some embodiments, at least some of the described techniques mayinstead be used in other situations and manners. For example, thedescribed techniques for automatically selecting digital media itemsthat are appropriate for a target user may be used in situations otherthan with respect to preloading the items on a device, such as thefollowing: to provide recommendations to a user of an online musicservice for digital music items to interactively select for download(e.g., in response to a single-action user selection to provide suchrecommendations, such as by using a user-selectable control displayed ona Web page presented to the user); to identify digital media items todownload to an appropriate device that is already in the possession of auser, such as to automatically push such selected digital media items tothe device for later use by the user (e.g., in situations in which theuser has a subscription); and to load digital media items on devices attimes other than before an initial distribution of the device to arecipient, such as when the device has been returned for repairs or whenthe device is available at a designated digital media item physicaldownloading facility (e.g., docked in a kiosk at a physical store orother location associated with the music service, or otherwise networkedor connected to such a physical facility, such as in a wirelessnetworked manner). In addition, in some embodiments the describedtechniques are used to preload digital media items on a device that areappropriate for a group of users, such as a group of users who will usethe device (whether simultaneously or serially), and such as based onthe intersection and/or the union of appropriate digital media items forindividual members of the group. Furthermore, in some embodiments thedescribed techniques are used to preload digital media items that areappropriate for a target user on a group of multiple devices, such as agroup of devices to be used simultaneously or serially by the user, andsuch as to replicate the appropriate digital media items on each ofmultiple of the devices (e.g., on all of the devices) or instead todistribute the digital media items across the devices in such a mannerthat each item is stored on only one device.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a server computing system100 suitable for use by a merchant in executing an embodiment of aPersonalized Digital Media Preload system, as well as one or moreconsumer client computing systems 170 from which users can make requeststo the server computing system. The computing system 100 includes a CPU105, various input/output (“I/O”) devices 110, storage 120, and memory130. The I/O devices include a display 111, a network connection 112, acomputer-readable media drive 113, and other I/O devices 115.

In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant uses the server computingsystem to provide an online ordering service (e.g., a Web store) viawhich customers can order consumer devices, as well as in theillustrated embodiment to optionally order a variety of other types ofphysical items for delivery, with an interface 134 for the onlineordering service executing in memory 130 in this illustrated embodiment.In particular, some customers may interact with the ordering serviceinterface 134 to obtain information about available items, such as froma physical item database 129 on storage 120, and may then place ordersvia the interface for such items to be physically delivered to specifiedrecipients. Such customers may interact with the ordering serviceinterface 134 in various ways, such as by using browser applications 179executing in memory 177 of consumer client computing systems 170 and/orby using other client computing devices (not shown). After a customerplaces an order for one or more such items, the ordering serviceprovides order information to one or more distribution centers 150 thatare affiliated with the merchant so that those distribution centers canphysically provide the ordered items to the specified recipient, andfurther stores information about the order in an order history database121 on storage.

In the illustrated embodiment, the merchant also uses the servercomputing system to provide an online digital media item orderingservice (e.g., a digital music store) from which customers can order anddownload digital media items, with an interface 136 for the digitalmedia ordering service executing in memory 130 in this illustratedembodiment. In other embodiments, different computing systems of themerchant may instead be used to provide the physical item and digitalmedia item ordering services, or the merchant may instead provide atmost one of those services and have affiliations with one or more otherentities who provide one or more instances of those services. In thisembodiment, customers may interact with the ordering service interface136 to obtain information about available digital media items, such asfrom a digital media item database 127 on storage 120, and may thenselect such items via the interface for download (e.g., for a fee and/orin conjunction with a subscription of the user), such as to be stored asdigital content 175 on storage 174 of a client computing system 170 ofthe customer, and then optionally transferred to one or more connectedconsumer devices 190. Such customers may interact with the orderingservice interface 136 in various ways, such as by using browserapplications 179, by using specialized application software (not shown)for the digital media service, and/or by using other client computingdevices (not shown).

The physical item and/or digital media item ordering services may alsotrack and use various information about users and about userinteractions with the merchant. For example, after a customer places anorder for one or more physical items and/or downloads or otherwiseselects one or more digital media items, the corresponding orderingservice may store information about those items in an order historydatabase (“db”) 121 on storage 120, although in other embodiments thetwo ordering services may instead maintain separate history databases.Similarly, one or both of the physical item and digital media itemordering services may further track and store information about variousother types of interactions with the ordering services in a userinteraction tracking db 123 on storage, such as to track searches foritems, selections of items, usage patterns of items (e.g., based oninformation obtained from the client computing systems and/or consumerdevices), etc. One or both of the physical item and digital media itemordering services may also track and store various other types ofinformation about users in a user information db 125 on storage, such asto track information about user subscriptions with the digital mediaordering service, user accounts with one or both of the orderingservices, user preference information, user demographic information,etc. In other embodiments, the various types of information may insteadbe stored in other ways (e.g., to track information from the device orother physical item ordering service separately from information fromthe digital media item ordering service), and various other types ofinformation may additionally be stored.

An embodiment of the Personalized Digital Media Preload system 132 isalso executing in memory 130 of the server computing system 100 in thisillustrated embodiment, although in other embodiments differentcomputing systems of the merchant may instead be used to provide thepreload system 132 and one or both of the physical item and digitalmedia item ordering services (e.g., by having embodiments of the preloadsystem 132 instead execute at one or more of the device distributioncenters), or the preload system 132 may instead be incorporated as partof the physical item ordering service. In the illustrated embodiment,when the physical item ordering service receives an order for a consumerdevice of one or more specified types; the ordering service providesinformation about the order to the preload system 132 for processing. Inthis example, an optional Preload Appropriateness Determiner component148 of the preload system then determines whether it is appropriate topreload the ordered consumer device with personalized digital media thatis specific for the recipient of the consumer device (e.g., based oninformation about the order and/or from one or more of the databases121-125), such as to determine to perform the preloading for anyrecipient and/or any consumer device able to load the digital media, forrecipients that already have and/or concurrently are receiving asubscription to the digital media ordering service, for consumer devicesthat provide sufficient DRM-related capabilities, for recipients thatprovide approval for the preload, etc. In other embodiments, suchappropriateness determination may instead not be performed, such as ifall consumer devices for all users are to be preloaded with suchpersonalized digital media.

If it is determined to automatically perform such preloading, aPersonalized Item Selector component 142 of the preload system thenautomatically selects one or more appropriate personalized digital mediaitems for the recipient (e.g., sufficient items to fill the consumerdevice to a specified level or threshold, such as to completely fill thedevice), such as based on information about the recipient and/or otherusers from one or more of the databases 121-129—the preload system mayfurther in some embodiments interact with the user who placed the orderand/or the recipient so as to obtain interactive authorization or otherapproval to perform the preloading and/or to obtain informationregarding digital media items to preload. When the automatic selectionof the one or more appropriate personalized digital media items for therecipient has been completed (e.g., after receiving any interactive userfeedback and revising the automatically selected items based on thefeedback), a Preload Controller component 144 of the preload system thenprovides information regarding the automatically selected items to oneor more computing systems (not shown) at the distribution center fromwhich the consumer device is to be distributed in such a manner as toinitiate or otherwise schedule the preloading of the selected items,although in other embodiments the computing system 100 may insteaditself perform the preloading of the consumer device (e.g., when thecomputing system 100 is acting as or in conjunction with a local digitalmedia preload station, not shown).

When such an order for a consumer device to be preloaded withappropriate personalized digital media items for a recipient is to befulfilled at one of the distribution centers, a copy 154 of the consumerdevice is retrieved for shipment processing (whether manually or in anautomated manner). Before completing the preparation of a package toship the consumer device copy (or other preparation for providing theconsumer device to the recipient), however, the consumer device copy isconnected (whether with a physical cable/dock or in a wireless manner)to a digital media preload station 152 at the distribution center. Thepreload station obtains the information about the appropriatepersonalized digital media items for the consumer device from acomputing system at the distribution center, obtains copies of thosedigital media items (e.g., by downloading them from the digital mediadatabase 127, whether directly or by interacting with an optional ItemProvider component 146 of the preload system; by retrieving them from alocal database of digital media items (not shown); by receiving themfrom the preload system 132 as part of the information provided for theordered consumer device, such as from the Preload Controller componentand/or the Item Provider component; etc.), and then loads those itemsonto the consumer device copy (e.g., in a high-speed manner). Theconsumer device copy is then shipped to the physical delivery location159 of the recipient in a typical manner, although in some embodimentsvarious types of expedited delivery and/or specialized deliveryprocessing may instead be used (e.g., to perform immediate and/or aprioritized packaging of the device copy and/or to perform next-day orsame-day delivery, such as to allow use of the loaded device by therecipient as quickly as possible).

In addition, in some embodiments the preload system 132 and/or digitalmedia item ordering system may further automatically provide appropriatedigital content to some or all users (e.g., users having subscriptionsto the digital media item ordering system) in other manners, such as toautomatically select appropriate digital media items for a target userand to automatically download those items to a client computing system170 of that target user, which can then be transferred to a connectedconsumer device 190. Moreover, in some situations downloads of items maybe performed in other situations, such as to download a full copy of anitem after the user has approved or otherwise selected a modifiedpreloaded copy of that item (e.g., a sample or other excerpt of a musicfile).

FIG. 1 further illustrates an alternative embodiment in which theDigital Media Preload system facilitates preloading of devices at one ormore physical retail locations 160 (e.g., electronics stores operated byother merchants, or a physical retail store operated by the merchantproviding the device ordering service), such as in conjunction with theoperators of those retail locations. In particular, in such embodimentsa retail location may stock copies 164 of various consumer devices, andmay further have one or more digital media preload stations 162 at theretail location. In such embodiments, when a consumer purchases orotherwise selects an appropriate consumer device, the Digital MediaPreload system may interact with one or more computing systems (notshown) at the retail location in a manner similar to that previouslydescribed in order to facilitate preloading of the consumer device withappropriate digital media before the consumer device is provided to theconsumer. In particular, after being provided with information regardingthe consumer or other recipient, the Digital Media Preload system mayoperate as previously described to identify personalized digital mediaitems specific to that consumer or other recipient (as well as tooptionally determine whether it is appropriate to preload the devicewith such personalized digital media), and to provide information aboutthose items to a computing system at the retail location. Informationabout the consumer or other recipient may be identified and provided tothe Digital Media Preload system in various ways (e.g., based oninformation explicitly provided by the consumer, based on a credit ordebit card used by the consumer to purchase the device, based oninformation from the operator of the retail location that is associatedwith a loyalty card used by the consumer, etc.).

After the information about the personalized digital media items isprovided to the retail location, the actual loading of the digital mediaitems onto the consumer device copy may be performed in various ways invarious embodiments. For example, a representative of the retaillocation (e.g., an employee) may connect the consumer device copy to apreload station at the retail location, which then obtains theinformation about the appropriate personalized digital media items,obtains copies of those digital media items (e.g., by downloading themfrom the digital media database 127, from a local database of digitalmedia items (not shown), by receiving them from the preload system 132as part of the provided information, etc.), and then loads those itemsonto the consumer device copy (e.g., in a high-speed manner)—in thismanner, the consumer may be presented with a preloaded device at theretail location. Alternatively, in some embodiments the consumer mayhimself/herself be able to perform at least some of the activities forloading the device with appropriate digital media items at the retaillocation, such as if the preload station is publicly accessible to andusable by the consumer (e.g., a kiosk at the retail location). Suchcustomer-activated preloading may be performed by the customer after thecustomer has purchased or otherwise acquired the consumer device (e.g.,while the customer remains in the retail location after the acquisition,or instead at a later time after the customer has left and returned), orinstead prior to such an acquisition. Moreover, in at least someembodiments, the consumer may further be allowed to provide interactivefeedback regarding digital media items to be downloaded in mannerssimilar to those previously discussed, whether the loading of the deviceis performed by the consumer or by a representative of the retaillocation.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computing systems/devices100, 170 and 190 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limitthe scope of the present invention. Computing system 100 may instead becomprised of multiple interacting computing systems or devices, and maybe connected to other devices that are not illustrated, includingthrough one or more networks such as via the Internet and/or the WorldWide Web (“Web”), via cellular data networks (e.g. networks based onGSM, GPRS, EDGE, W-CDMA, UMTS, HSDPA CDMA2000, 1xRTT, 1xEVDO, etc.), andvia other wireless data networks (e.g. Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc.). Moregenerally, a “client” or “server” computing system or device maycomprise any combination of hardware or software that can interact inthe manners described and perform the described techniques, including(without limitation) desktop or other computers, network devices, PDAs,cellphones, cordless phones, devices with walkie-talkie and otherpush-to-talk capabilities, pagers, electronic organizers, Internetappliances, television-based systems (e.g., using set-top boxes and/orpersonal/digital video recorders), and various other consumer productsthat include appropriate inter-communication and computing capabilities.In addition, the functionality provided by the illustrated systems mayin some embodiments be combined in fewer systems or distributed inadditional systems, and one or more of the systems may each havemultiple components that each provides a portion of the functionality ofthat system. Similarly, in some embodiments the functionality of some ofthe illustrated systems may not be provided and/or other additionalfunctionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while variouselements are illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage whilebeing used, these elements or portions of them can be transferredbetween memory and other storage devices for purposes of memorymanagement and data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments someor all of the software systems (or portions of them) may execute inmemory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computingsystem via inter-computer communication. Some or all of the systemsand/or data structures (e.g., portions of a database, such as one ormore tables or views or portions thereof) used by the systems may alsobe stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on acomputer-readable medium, such as a hard disk, a memory, a computernetwork or cellular wireless network or other transmission medium, or aportable media article (e.g., a DVD or flash memory device) to be readby an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. Some or all ofthe systems and data structures can also be transmitted via generateddata signals (e.g., by being encoded in a carrier wave or otherwiseincluded as part of an analog or digital propagated signal) on a varietyof computer-readable transmission mediums, including wireless-based andwired/cable-based mediums, and can take a variety of forms (e.g., aspart of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discretedigital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also takeother forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, the present invention maybe practiced with other computer system configurations.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a PersonalizedDigital Media Preload routine 200. The routine may, for example, beprovided by execution of an embodiment of the Personalized Digital MediaPreload system 132 of FIG. 1, such as to in this illustrated embodimentpreload a digital media player device with digital media items that areautomatically selected as being appropriate for a recipient beforeproviding the loaded player to the recipient. In some embodiments, theroutine may be provided only under specified conditions, such as forcertain types of digital media player devices and/or for certain typesof customers and/or recipients, and the routine may further in someembodiments be provided by or associated with one or more online digitalmedia item download services (e.g., services that supportsubscription-based access to at least some of the digital media itemsthat they make available for download).

The routine begins at step 205, where an indication is received that acustomer has indicated to purchase a digital media player device for aspecified recipient (e.g., the customer), although in other embodimentsother types of devices may be selected, a device may be selected forother types of provision to a recipient (e.g., for rental, loan,evaluation, etc.), and/or the routine may be performed in othersituations (e.g., before the customer has decided to purchase orotherwise select the device, such as to provide information aboutappropriate digital media items that can be preloaded on a device whilethe customer is considering purchasing the device).

The routine then continues to step 210 to retrieve indications ofdigital media items that are likely to be or known to be of interest tothe recipient, and in step 215 proceeds to automatically selectadditional digital media items based on the indicated digital mediaitems that will potentially be of interest to the recipient. Theindicated digital media items that are likely to be or known to be ofinterest to the recipient may be selected in various ways, such as basedon previous purchasing and/or downloading activities related to thosedigital media items, and the automatic selecting of the additionaldigital media items may similarly be performed in various ways (e.g., toselect similar items to the indicated items, to select items that areassociated with the indicated items based on prior activities of therecipient and/or other users, etc.). The digital media itemsautomatically identified in steps 210 and 215 are then available ascandidates for the personalized digital media items for the recipient.

The routine then continues to step 220 to determine whether to solicituser input to possibly modify the group of personalized digital mediaitem candidates, although in other embodiments such user inputsoliciting may always be performed or may instead never be performed. Inthe illustrated embodiment, if user input is not to be solicited (e.g.,based on preference information for the recipient and/or consumer, basedon an inability to currently obtain such user input, etc.), the routinecontinues to step 225 to select some or all of the personalized digitalmedia item candidates as the personalized digital media items to be usedfor the preloading, such as to select sufficient items to fill theplayer device to a desired level or degree (e.g., substantiallycompletely full).

If it was instead determined in step 220 to solicit user input, theroutine continues instead to step 235 to present information about someor all of the personalized digital media item candidates (or about othertypes of related information, such as factors used to select theseitems, or such as commonalities among some or all of these items, suchas categories, genres, artists, etc.) to one or more users (e.g., theconsumer), such as for use as recommendations of the personalizeddigital media items to be preloaded on the player device. If it isdetermined in step 237 that user input regarding the personalizeddigital media item candidates is received, selections are obtained fromthe user(s) in step 240 to identify the personalized digital media itemsto be used for the preloading, such as by modifying the presented groupof personalized digital media item candidates (e.g., user selections ofmedia item candidates to include and/or to exclude, of additional mediaitems to include, of media items to use when automatically determiningother similar or otherwise related items, etc.). In step 245, otherdigital media items are optionally automatically selected aspersonalized digital media items to be used for the preloading based onthe user input received in step 240, such as to replace otherpersonalized digital media item candidates that were previouslyautomatically selected and/or to supplement such other previouslyselected digital media item candidates (e.g., to obtain sufficientdigital media items to fill the player device to a desired level ordegree).

After steps 225 or 245, or if it was instead determined in step 237 thatno user input was received, the routine continues to step 230 to provideinformation about the current group of personalized digital media itemsfor use in preloading the player device as part of fulfillment of theorder for the player device, such as information to a humanrepresentative of a merchant or other distributor of the player devicefor use in the preloading and/or to an automated station or other systemthat will perform the preloading. In step 250, the preloading is thenperformed on a copy of the player device using the provided information,with the preloading performed in some embodiments in such a manner as toprovide DRM protection or other access controls for some or all of thepreloaded digital media items. In step 255, the player device copy withthe preloaded digital media items is then provided to the indicatedrecipient. In step 295 it is determined whether to continue. If so, theroutine returns to step 205, and if not continues to step 299 and ends.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that in some embodimentsthe functionality provided by the routines discussed above may beprovided in alternative ways, such as being split among more routines orconsolidated into fewer routines. Similarly, in some embodimentsillustrated routines may provide more or less functionality than isdescribed, such as when other illustrated routines instead lack orinclude such functionality respectively, or when the amount offunctionality that is provided is altered. In addition, while variousoperations may be illustrated as being performed in a particular manner(e.g., in serial or in parallel, or synchronous or asynchronous) and/orin a particular order, those skilled in the art will appreciate that inother embodiments the operations may be performed in other orders and inother manners. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that thedata structures discussed above may be structured in different manners,such as by having a single data structure split into multiple datastructures or by having multiple data structures consolidated into asingle data structure. Similarly, in some embodiments illustrated datastructures may store more or less information than is described, such aswhen other illustrated data structures instead lack or include suchinformation respectively, or when the amount or types of informationthat is stored is altered.

While not illustrated here, various interfaces (e.g., GUIs, or“graphical user interfaces”) may be used to interact with customersand/or recipients in various ways, such as to present one or more Webpages to users interacting with an online retailer or with acomputer-assisted kiosk. In addition, as previously noted, a variety oftypes of information and capabilities may be provided to users via suchinterfaces, such as the ability to approve whether to preload a consumerdevice, to review a list of items to be preloaded, to review a list ofitems to be preloaded and provide approval, to modify a list of items tobe preloaded, to otherwise provide input regarding items of interest tothe user, etc. Moreover, in at least some embodiments users may bepresented with information about personalized items at times other thanduring or after purchase of an appropriate consumer device, such as toprovide such information to a user as an incentive to perform such adevice purchase or instead to provide such information to users forother purposes.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit andscope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited exceptas by the appended claims and the elements recited therein. In addition,while certain aspects have been discussed in specific terms such as tobe described as processes and/or systems and/or are presented below incertain claim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects ofthe invention in any available claim form, including methods, systems,computer-readable mediums on which are stored executable instructions orother contents to cause a method to be performed and/or on which arestored one or more data structures, computer-readable generated datasignals transmitted over a transmission medium and on which suchexecutable instructions and/or data structures have been encoded, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving a request to provide a recipient with a digital media deviceincluding storage; retrieving information specific to the recipientbased at least in part on prior interactions associated with therecipient that occurred before the receiving of the request;determining, by a configured computing system, digital media items forthe recipient, the determining including using the information toautomatically selecting at least one of the digital media items for therecipient; storing, under control of the configured computing system andbefore delivery of the digital media device to the recipient, thedigital media items on the storage of the digital media device; andinitiating delivery to the recipient of the digital media device withthe digital media items on the storage.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving a request to provide a second recipient with asecond digital media device, the second recipient being distinct fromthe recipient, determining, by the configured computing system, a groupof digital media items that is personalized for the second recipient andthat is distinct from the digital media items determined for therecipient; initiating storing the digital media items of the group onthe second digital media device; and initiating delivery to the secondrecipient of the second digital media device with the digital mediaitems of the group stored on the second digital media device.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the request is received from the recipient,and wherein the determining of the digital media items includesselecting, for the digital media items determined for the recipient, atleast some digital media items that have not previously been specifiedby the recipient.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the request isreceived from the recipient, and wherein the determining of the digitalmedia items includes selecting, for the digital media items determinedfor the recipient, at least some digital media items that havepreviously been selected by the recipient.
 5. The method of claim 4wherein previous selection by the recipient of the selected at leastsome digital media items includes the recipient purchasing access to theselected at least some digital media items.
 6. The method of claim 1wherein the selecting of the at least one digital media item is based onone or more actions of the recipient that indicate interest in theselected at least one digital media item, the one or more actions beingfrom a group of action types that include purchasing the selected atleast one digital media item, identifying the selected at least onedigital media item as being desired, downloading the selected at leastone digital media item, including the selected at least one digitalmedia item on a list of items in which the recipient has an interest,performing a search for which the selected at least one digital mediaitem is in results of the search, performing browsing in which theselected at least one digital media item is among items browsed,requesting detailed information regarding the selected at least onedigital media item, providing a review of the selected at least onedigital media item, and providing a rating of the selected at least onedigital media item.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining ofthe digital media items is further based at least in part on one or moreselections by the recipient of at least some of the digital media items.8. The method of claim 7 wherein the one or more selections by therecipient include an indication from the recipient to include, in thedigital media items determined for the recipient, an indicated group ofmultiple digital media items.
 9. The method of claim 7 wherein the oneor more selections by the recipient include an indication from therecipient to include, in the digital media items determined for therecipient, digital media items of an indicated category.
 10. The methodof claim 1 wherein the determining of the digital media items includesgenerating, by the configured computing system, one or morerecommendations of digital media items for the recipient, and whereineach of the selected at least one digital media items is from one of therecommendations.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuredcomputing system is operated by an online retailer, and wherein therecipient is a customer of the online retailer who is purchasing thedigital media device from the online retailer.
 12. The method of claim11 wherein the digital media device is a digital music player device,wherein the recipient has a subscription to a digital music service fromthe online retailer that provides digital music items, and wherein thegroup of digital media items includes digital music items available tothe recipient from the digital music service as part of the subscriptionof the recipient.
 13. The method of claim 11 wherein the online retailerdelivers digital media devices to recipients by shipping the digitalmedia devices to the recipients from a distribution center associatedwith the online retailer, and wherein the storing of the digital mediaitems is performed at the distribution center before the digital mediadevice is packaged to be shipped to the recipient.
 14. The method ofclaim 11 further comprising generating, by the configured computingsystem, recommendations for the recipient based at least in part on theprior interactions with the recipient, and wherein the digital mediaitems are from the recommendations.
 15. The method of claim 1 whereinthe selecting of the at least one digital media item is based at leastin part on one or more groups to which the recipient belongs.
 16. Themethod of claim 15 wherein the one or more groups to which the recipientbelongs includes an organization of which the recipient is a member. 17.The method of claim 15 wherein the one or more groups to which therecipient belongs includes a user-defined group having one or more otherusers that is defined by the recipient or by at least one of the one ormore other users.
 18. The method of claim 1 wherein the request isreceived from a user distinct from the recipient, and wherein at leastsome of the digital media items are indicated by the user to be includedfor the recipient.
 19. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some ofthe digital media items are items for which another party has paid forinclusion on the digital media device.
 20. The method of claim 1 whereinthe determining of the digital media items for the recipient includesproviding one or more indications of the digital media items to therecipient and obtaining approval from the recipient to store the digitalmedia items on the digital media device.
 21. The method of claim 1wherein the determining of the digital media items for the recipientincludes providing information about a plurality of possible digitalmedia items to the recipient and obtaining one or more indications fromthe recipient of a subset of the possible digital media items to includein the digital media items on the storage.
 22. The method of claim 1wherein the digital media items each are of a type from a group of itemtypes that includes a digital song, a digital audio book, a digitalphoto, a digital image, a digital video clip, an e-book, or a textualfile.
 23. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital media device is adigital music player device, a digital photo display device, a cameradevice, a digital video player device, an e-book reader device, a smartphone device, a portable video game device, or a portable media centerdevice.
 24. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the digitalmedia items on the storage are each a modified version of anotherdigital media item, to enable the recipient to elect to obtain theanother digital media item from the digital media device based on themodified version.
 25. The method of claim 24 wherein each modifiedversion of another digital media item is a sample of a portion of theanother digital media item.
 26. The method of claim 1 wherein therecipient is a customer at a physical retail store, wherein the storingof the digital media items on the digital media device is performed atthe physical retail store by one or more representatives of the physicalretail store, and wherein the delivery to the recipient of the digitalmedia device with the digital media items on the storage includesproviding the digital media device to the recipient at the physicalretail store.
 27. The method of claim 1 wherein the recipient is locatedat a publicly accessible physical location, and wherein the storing ofthe digital media items on the digital media device is performed atleast in part by the recipient at the publicly accessible physicallocation.
 28. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is one of agroup of request types that include to rent the digital media device tothe recipient, to loan the digital media device to the recipient, and toprovide the digital media device to the recipient for evaluationpurposes.
 29. A system comprising: one or more processors of one or morecomputing systems; and one or more components that are configured to,when executed by at least one of the one or more processors: receive arequest to provide a recipient with a digital media device for storingand presenting digital media items; retrieve information specific to therecipient that is based at least in part on prior interactions with therecipient before receiving the request; determine a group of digitalmedia items that is personalized for the recipient, the determiningincluding selecting at least one of the digital media items of the groupusing the information; initiate storing the digital media items of thegroup on storage of the digital media device; and initiate deliveringthe digital media device to the recipient with the digital media itemsstored on the storage of the digital media device.
 30. The system ofclaim 29 wherein the one or more components include executable softwareinstructions, wherein the digital media device is a player device thatincludes storage configurable to store digital media items and includesoutput capabilities configurable to present the stored digital mediaitems, and wherein the initiating storing of the digital media items ofthe group on the digital media device includes storing, under control ofthe one or more computing systems and before delivering the digitalmedia device to the recipient, the digital media items of the group onthe storage of the digital media device to personalize the digital mediadevice for the recipient.